Chad, Mali, Senegal pursue birth registration reforms to close gaps

Efforts deployed by the Republics of Chad, Mali and Senegal to reform and digitize their respective birth registration systems are said to be paying off, with an increasing number of undocumented children being able to get a legal identity for inclusion into society.

These countries were among those that presented their birth registration stories, challenges and prospects during the ID4Africa 2025 AGM.

It emerged from their presentations that while the governments have recorded significant strides, a lot still has to be done in terms of pushing ahead policy reforms, broadening inter-agency partnerships, and incorporating more technological solutions in order to up their civil registration numbers and close yawning gaps.

Health sector integration advances inclusive CR in Chad

Speaking for the Chad, the Coordinator of Cooperation and Civil Registration at the National Agency for Secure Titles (ANATS), Brahim Ali Seid, said the country has registered remarkable progress in civil and birth registration thanks to a medley of factors which include legal reforms, digitization, cross-sector collaboration including integration with the health sector, as well as community engagement.

He said thanks to the implementation of a robust legal framework that supports universal, free, and mandatory birth registration; civil registration in the country is now integrated across various sectors, such as health facilities, schools, and refugee camps.

“We inherited a colonial civil registration system governed by colonial laws. But progress has been made. Starting from the 1990s, we adopted new legal texts that allowed our civil registry system to evolve. Between 1990 and 2010, and later in 2020, new legislation was introduced, including a key ordinance that modernized the system and laid the groundwork for digitalization,” Seid explained.

Since the integration of the civil registration system with heath facilities in 2023, more than 120,000 children have been registered through hospital-based registry offices, with community health workers also acting as intermediaries to record births in rural areas, ensuring coverage of about 70 percent of Chad’s rural population.

Apart from registration in hospitals, teams have also undertaken registration campaigns in schools where more than 180,000 pupils and students without birth certificates have been registered since 2023, and in nomadic communities where mobile phones and biometric technology are being used to reach people.

“Over 80 percent of children in primary and secondary schools lack birth certificates. As part of a national education acceleration plan, these students are allowed to enroll without documents, but we’ve run regularization campaigns since 2023 to register them,” Seid disclosed.

“We’ve also extended services to nomadic populations, deploying mobile phones with our application to enroll nomadic children and conduct biometric registration missions for older individuals.”

“Our system connects civil registry offices, hospitals, vaccination centers, municipalities, mobile units, refugee camps, and schools. All data is transferred via SMS to our national agency, which validates the information and sends it back for issuance.”

As part of the push to increase the registration figures, the Chadian government plans to increase the number of digitized hospital-based civil registration points from the current 97 to 600 in the next few years, as well as efforts to continue registration in school as the country aims for zero unregistered births by 2030.

A World Bank sponsored project last year sought to identify the factors hampering civil registration in Chad.

Mali’s CR rate at 89.5% despite territorial vastness, other challenges

In Mali, the current birth registration rate is 89.5 percent, but it has been a daunting task attaining these figures which appear impressive compared to those in many other Sub-Saharan African nations.

According to Dr Abdoulaye Alkadi, director of Civil Status at the National Directorate of Civil Status, the country has made commendable progress despite challenges linked to its vast territory, population mobility, and insecurity.

The success has come, in part, thanks to a solid combination of efforts such as the putting in place of civil registration infrastructure with almost every local council having a registration center, major legal and institutional reforms including the creation of the National Agency for the Security of Civil Status Documents (ANSAEC) this year, services such as free birth and death declarations and issuance of original certificates, as well as strong community engagement which is seeing the participation of traditional rulers, youth and women groups, NGOs, health workers, and village agents.

“In Mali, we have 747 functional primary centers for civil registration in the headquarters of local councils, out of the 825 councils in the country. We have 292 secondary centers, 8,000 declaration points, that is 4,000 in health facilities and 4,000 others in village areas without health facilities. There is one main center housed at the National Directorate of Civil Registration, which I head,” Alkadi said.

Emphasizing the intra-government collaboration, he stated: “There is very strong interaction among the different ministries. The ministry in charge of civil registration interacts with the Ministry of Justice, which exercises jurisdictional control and handles declaratory judgments. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs manages civil registration centers in diplomatic and consular missions. The Ministry of Health also operates declaration centers within health facilities.”

Regarding their future plans and in line with their desire to meet the SGD 16.9 objective, Alkadi said they hope to ramp up their efforts in terms of expanding the digitalization of all civil registration processes, digitizing all civil status records, strengthening mobile registration campaigns, solidifying inter-agency coordination and community-based outreach, leveraging digital tools to reach remote and underserved populations, and maintaining free access to civil registration services and documents, among other measures.

Efforts are also being made to encourage death registration which currently stands at only 20 percent.

In February, the Malian government launched a platform to facilitate access to administrative and identity documents for citizens living abroad.

Senegal awaits legislation on digitizing civil registration

In Senegal, there is one major legal reform which the government believes will give a significant push to civil registration efforts in the country.

A new draft law that seeks to integrate digital procedures into civil status management has already been validated by key stakeholders and awaits final legislative approval, the Director General of the National Civil Status Agency (ANEC), Aliou Ousmane Sall, said. The new legislation revises the Family Code of 1972 to incorporate digitization into civil registration processes, for a which a platform has already been launched.

“The Family Code dates back to 1972 and made no provision for digital processes. That’s why we initiated legal reforms to introduce digital procedures into civil status management. The new draft law has been validated by a subcommittee and the Secretary-General of the Government. It now awaits approval by the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly,” Sall said.

He acknowledged that Senegal, like Chad and Mali, faces similar hurdles when it comes to civil registration, but the government has been tackling the situation frontally.

The official also disclosed that as of now, the rate of civil events registration in the country stands at 91.2 percent, but with a very big disparity in figures between rural and urban areas.

Beyond the legal reforms to streamline and simplify civil registration, Sall mentioned other efforts which include infrastructure development as reflected in the establishment of secondary civil registry centers in remote and underserved areas especially those cut off during rainy seasons, a digitization milestone which has seen 20 million out of 30 million civil records digitized, training and capacity building for civil registration agents nationwide, as well as integration of technology through the launch of a digital civil registration platform which is available via mobile application and web.

“Public awareness is another essential aspect for a successful universal registration and digital transition. You can’t introduce a civil status management app, for example, without preparing both the public and civil registration officials for the shift from paper to digital. We have been working on this,” Sall said, adding that the digital platform allows requests to be submitted online.

He also mentioned the implementation of a national restoration plan for deteriorated civil registers which has funding support from the European Union to the tune of €28 million (US$ 31 million).

Sall indicated that as part of their broader plans, they have developed a protocol for interoperability between civil registration, identity management, and the electoral system.

“Our vision is to turn civil registration centers into multi-service administrative hubs that expand access and streamline public service delivery,” he mentioned.

Streamlining public service delivery in Senegal is part of a national digital transformation plan the government launched early this year.

Article Topics

Africa  |  birth registration  |  Chad  |  civil registration  |  digital identity  |  ID4Africa 2025  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  Mali  |  SDG 16.9  |  Senegal